Wednesday's Campaign Round-Up, 3.5.25: New poll shows Trump approval sinking
Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The latest national Reuters/Ipsos poll — the first conducted entirely after Friday's Oval Office debacle — found Donad Trump's approval rating dipping to 44%. The same survey found only 34% of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction. (Click the link for more information on the poll's methodology and margin of error.)
* Speaking of polling, the latest statewide survey in Ohio, conducted by the Bowling Green State University Democracy and Public Policy Research Network and YouGov, found failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy leading the Republicans' gubernatorial field with 61% support, well ahead of state Attorney General Dave Yost's 24%. (Click the link for more information on the poll's methodology and margin of error.)
* Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas died last night, just two months into his first term on Capitol Hill. A Texas Tribune report added, 'Gov. Greg Abbott can call a special election to fill Turner's congressional seat for the rest of his term. State law does not specify a deadline to call a special election, but if it is called the election is required to happen within two months of the announcement.'
* In Michigan, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg hasn't yet announced his electoral plans, but Politico reported that he met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last week about a possible Senate campaign next year.
* Nicole Shanahan, who was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate in last year's presidential election, has apparently found a new focus: The very wealthy lawyer is reportedly helping finance a recall campaign targeting Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
* Elon Musk amplified some dubious claims last week about Democratic voter registration data in Philadelphia. Local election officials soon after set the record straight.
* And while Gov. Tim Walz has ruled out a U.S. Senate campaign in 2026, the Minnesota Democrat suggested to The New Yorker that he's open to a 2028 presidential campaign. Walz, of course, was his party's vice presidential nominee in the 2024 race.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jessica Ramos endorsing Andrew Cuomo for NYC mayor weeks after questioning his ‘mental acuity'
NEW YORK — In an extraordinary about-face, back-of-the-pack mayoral candidate Jessica Ramos is endorsing her front-running rival Andrew Cuomo — just weeks after questioning his 'mental acuity' and comparing his mental state to former President Joe Biden's. Ramos, a Queens state senator who was also among scores of lawmakers to call for Cuomo's 2021 resignation as governor over sexual misconduct accusations, is expected to formally throw her political weight behind his mayoral bid at a press conference in Manhattan on Friday morning, sources confirmed to the Daily News. Ramos and her campaign didn't immediately return multiple calls. But she told the New York Times, which first reported her surprising decision, that she's going with Cuomo because 'he's the one best positioned right now to protect this city.' Cuomo, who's polling as the favorite to win the June 24 Democratic mayoral primary, 'knows how to hold the line and deliver under pressure,' she added, citing uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump. Ramos, who identifies as a progressive Democrat, said she's not dropping out and her name will still appear on the primary ballot. But her endorsement of the centrist Cuomo is an effective acknowledgement she has no path to victory. Most polls of the mayoral race have shown Ramos pulling 1% or less in support. On the fundraising side, she hasn't taken in enough cash to qualify for matching funds and her latest filing from last month showed she had just about $9,000 in her war chest. The Cuomo nod marks a drastic flip-flop for Ramos, who said in April she believes Cuomo's 'mental acuity is in decline.' 'I don't think the City of New York can afford a Joe Biden moment,' she said at the time, referring to the former president who ended his reelection bid last year after serious concerns emerged about his mental fitness. 'I think that there are real reasons why [Cuomo is] not answering questions.' In response to her mental fitness broadsides against Cuomo, his spokesman Rich Azzopardi shot back in April: 'Was she sober when she said it?' Azzopardi didn't immediately return a request for comment Friday. Ramos has been a harsh critic of the centrist Cuomo on a number of other fronts, too. 'People may want to be courteous to Cuomo's face but they don't forget the people he sent to die, the women he touched or the people he left in our streets needing mental health care and housing,' Ramos wrote on X in March, referring to accusations that Cuomo mismanaged the COVID pandemic, sexually harassed more than 10 women and shuttered psychiatric institutions statewide as governor. Cuomo has denied the sexual harassment and pandemic mismanagement claims. Ramos' change of heart comes just days after the progressive Working Families Party ranked her its No. 5 candidate as part of an anti-Cuomo mayoral endorsement slate. On Friday, the party, which has had a rocky relationship with Ramos over the years, said it's 'sad and disappointed' by Ramos' announcement, but vowed to not 'be distracted by this desperate move.' Party leaders declined to immediately say whether they will formally remove Ramos from the slate. Ramos, the chair of the State Senate's Labor Committee, was the first woman to enter the 2025 mayoral race and had hoped to build a coalition rooted in union and Latino communities. But she never gained momentum on the campaign trail, as other progressives in the race, like runner-up candidate Zohran Mamdani, capitalized on a surge in enthusiasm for left-wing politics among young voters. During the first mayoral debate this week, Ramos lobbed a barb at Mamdani, Cuomo's top rival in the race, saying she wished she had run for mayor in 2021. 'I thought I needed more experience, but turns out you just need to make good videos,' she said, a reference to Mamdani's social media strategy. -----------


The Hill
35 minutes ago
- The Hill
Watchdog investigating whether Hegseth aides were asked to delete Signal messages: Report
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon's watchdog is looking into whether any of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's aides were asked to delete Signal messages that may have shared sensitive military information with a reporter, according to two people familiar with the investigation and documents reviewed by The Associated Press. The inspector general's request focuses on how information about the March 15 airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen was shared on the messaging app. This comes as Hegseth is scheduled to testify before Congress next week for the first time since his confirmation hearing. He is likely to face questions under oath not only about his handling of sensitive information but also the wider turmoil at the Pentagon following the departures of several senior aides and an internal investigation over information leaks. Hegseth already has faced questions over the installation of an unsecured internet line in his office that bypassed the Pentagon's security protocols and revelations that he shared details about the military strikes in multiple Signal chats. One of the chats included his wife and brother, while the other included President Donald Trump's top national security officials and inadvertently included The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson had no comment on Friday, citing the pending investigation. The inspector general's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Besides finding out whether anyone was asked to delete Signal messages, the inspector general also is asking some past and current staffers who were with Hegseth on the day of the strikes who posted the information and who had access to his phone, according to the two people familiar with the investigation and the documents reviewed by the AP. The people were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Democratic lawmakers and a small number of Republicans have said that the information Hegseth posted to the Signal chats before the military jets had reached their targets could have put those pilots' lives at risk and that for any lower-ranking members of the military it would have led to their firing. Hegseth has said none of the information was classified. Multiple current and former military officials have said there is no way details with that specificity, especially before a strike took place, would have been OK to share on an unsecured device. 'I said repeatedly, nobody is texting war plans,' Hegseth told Fox News Channel in April after reporting emerged about the chat that included his family members. 'I look at war plans every day. What was shared over Signal then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things. That's what I've said from the beginning.' Trump has made clear that Hegseth continues to have his support, saying during a Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia that the defense secretary 'went through a lot' but 'he's doing really well.' Hegseth has limited his public engagements with the press since the Signal controversy. He has yet to hold a Pentagon press briefing, and his spokesman has briefed reporters there only once. The inspector general is investigating Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the committee's top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island. Signal is a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications, but it can be hacked and is not approved for carrying classified information. On March 14, one day before the strikes against the Houthis, the Defense Department cautioned personnel about the vulnerability of the app. Trump has said his administration targeted the Houthis over their 'unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence and terrorism.' He has noted the disruption Houthi attacks caused through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, key waterways for energy and cargo shipments between Asia and Europe through Egypt's Suez Canal. The Houthi rebels attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, between November 2023 until January this year. Their leadership described the attacks as aimed at ending the Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Who are the United States Supreme Court Justices?
Politics in the United States in recent years have surrounded the position of the president. But that has not changed the American political system. It's still all about checks and balances in the United States, which includes the judicial branch and Supreme Court. That arm of the U.S. government has nine justices seated on the bench, all of which were appointment by presidents at one point or another. Their jobs are for life and the group of nine is led by one chief justice. As of 2025, here is the full list of the nine justices in the United States Supreme Court. Date appointed: Sept. 29, 2005. Appointed by: President George W. Bush. Political affiliation: Republican. Date appointed: Oct. 23 1991. Appointed by: President George H. W. Bush. Political affiliation: Republican. Date appointed: Jan. 31, 2006. Appointed by: President George W. Bush. Political affiliation: Republican. Date appointed: Aug. 8, 2009. Appointed by: President Barack Obama. Political affiliation: Democrat. Date appointed: Aug. 7, 2010. Appointed by: President Barack Obama. Political affiliation: Democrat. Date appointed: April 10, 2017. Appointed by: President Donald Trump. Political affiliation: Republican. Date appointed: Oct. 6, 2018. Appointed by: President Donald Trump. Political affiliation: Republican. Date appointed: Oct. 27, 2020. Appointed by: President Donald Trump. Political affiliation: Republican. Date appointed: June 30, 2022. Appointed by: President Joe Biden. Political affiliation: Democrat. This article originally appeared on The List Wire: List of United States Supreme Court Justices